Second pre-season fixture for the 2022 – 2023 Stafford Colts saw them play Uttoxeter colts on Wednesday evening at the county ground. Uttoxeter were a little under strength and could not field a fully trained front row so the game was played with uncontested scrums.

Stafford started strongly with the forwards trying to stamp their authority on the game from the start. Some mistakes close to the Uttoxeter line meant that it took until the 12th minute for Stafford to open the scoring, a close range try on the far right by Charlie Kirby. Then for the first time in the match Uttoxeter got out of their own half where a Stafford infringement at the ruck resulted in Uttoxeter kicking a penalty, which was a bit of a surprise given it was a pre-season friendly. Stafford forwards then re-asserted their dominance, especially down the blind side, with some strong running from the base of the scrum and some good handling in close contact. As a result Stafford scored two more tries, one from Joben Corcoran and another from Charlie Kirby, with the conversion added by Henry Ralphs. As time ran out in the first half Stafford took a lineout close to the Uttoxeter line and were able to drive Charlie Kirby over for his hattrick try in the first half, Henry Ralphs added a difficult conversion from wide on the left. Stafford had dominated the first half and the score at the half way point was 24 – 3.

In the second half it was the Stafford backs turn to shine. Within the first minute Archie Bent put Fin Osmat through a hole in the Uttoxeter back line and he raced around the full back to score under the posts, Archie Bent added the simple conversion. Fin Osmat had been a threat all game with some barn storming runs down the blind side and he scored his second try with a strong run through the Uttoxeter defense holding off several would be tacklers. Stafford continued to play some good whole team rugby with both forwards and backs playing their part in the final Stafford try which saw Jack West scoring his first try for the colts as he dived over in the left hand corner. With a score of 41 – 3 Stafford seemed to take their foot off the gas a little which let Uttoxeter have the better of the final 15 minutes help by Stafford being reduced to 13 men following two yellow cards in quick succession for continuous infringement. Uttoxeter scored their first converted try after 21 minutes, an effort from close range which was followed by their second which was a gorgeous kick pass out to the winger who dived to catch the ball in the act of scoring. The match finished with a score line of 41 – 17 to Stafford.

It was a good performance from Stafford against an under strength Uttoxeter side but a match that gave each side valuable game time ahead of the upcoming league fixtures. Again, there were some technical points that the coaches picked up on that we will work on in training but overall the Colts played very well with good structures and bringing practiced moves into game play. There were some standout performances from the likes of Charlie Kirby and Fin Osman who scored the majority of the points, Joben Corcoran, DJ Clements and Oliver Croft who all snuffed out the Uttoxeter threat going forward with some excellent tackling and strong carries along with William Smith and Archie Bent who orchestrated the team well playing from number 10.

Next Colts pre-season game is again at home on Sunday 4th September against a usually strong Shrewsbury side.
Well done guys, the team is showing a lot of promise, keep coming to training and we should have an exciting season ahead.

Mark